Melchiah
Melchiah is one of the villains from the video games Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver and Sould Reaver 2. He was once a member of the Sarafan Inquisitors and commanders, thus he lead the purge against vampires of Nosgoth alongside his fellow commanders. Thosands of years following his death Melchiah and the rest of his Sarafan brothers (sans Malek) were ressurected by the vampire Kain to serve as his vampire lieutenants in his empire. This ultimatelly lead to Melchiah fighting against Raziel, a former Sarafan commander, turned vampire, turned wraith who had been betrayed by Kain. Melchiah shared his voice actor with Raziel: Michael Bell. Bell also voiced other villains such as Lex Luthor in the Super Friends ''animated series, Quackerjack on ''Darkwing Duck and Ezekiel Rage on The Real Adventures of Johnny Quest. Personality As a human warrior priest Melchiah was shown to have been highly dedicated to the cause of exterminating all vampires. He participated at the murder of Janos Audron and during his fight against the wraith Raziel he showed an unflinching resolve to prevent Raziel from invading the stronghold any further. After having been turned into a vampire himself, Melchiah showed absolute devotion towards his creator and lord, Kain. He would never had crossed Kain and would not defend Raziel after having been branded a traitor, although Melchiah was just as shocked as the others to have seen Raziel's punishment. Despite being labelled as the weakest of Kain's sons, Melchiah did not pity nore look down upon himself. On the contrary, Melchiah saw his cursed gift as a blessing since he could stitch the flesh of beautiful humans onto his own. In an act of vanity and pride he believed that his gift would allow him the opportunity towards becoming the most powerful son of Kain. His hubris ultimatelly failed as he would eventually transform into a hideous monster which even he found revolting and wished to be freed from. Story Sould Reaver 2 Melchiah was formerly a Sarafan Inquisitor, who hunted down vampires ordered by Moebius. He, alongside Raziel, Malek, Zephon, Dumah and Turel broke into the refuge of the ancestral vampire Janos Audron and slew him. They left, taking with them his still-beating black heart and the Reaver blade. Melchiah and Zephon are later killed by the wraith Raziel, who came from the future to meet up with Janos. This proves to be part of a self-fulfiling prophecy from which Kain ultimatelly raises his future vampire army. In the wake of their murder Melchiah and the other Sarafan commanders would be seen as martyrs, with one the rooms inside the stronghold being dedicated in their name, with murals depicting them as noble heroes. Five-hundred years later the Sarafan Stronghold was repurpused by Moebius to act as the headquarters of yet another order of vampire hunters. Legacy of Kain: Sould Reaver After one thousand and two hundred years following the Sarafans' deaths, when Kain rises his vampiric empire, he resurrects Melchiah as one of his lieutenants, along with Zephon, Rahab, Dumah, Turel and Raziel. Melchiah was the last Sarafan to be risen, so he received the weakest portion of Kain's soul and as such was the weakest of them all. As a direct result of Kain's curse, Melchiah's body was always rotting and decomposing, forcing him to scalp his victims and use their skin to hide his putrefaction. After Raziel, first-born of Kain's lieutenants, was thrown into the abyss after having been labeled as a traitor, all the vampire clans scattered throughout Nosgoth. Melchiah and his clan, the Melchahim, moved to the Necropolis where they continued to hunt down and devour humans. In time, Melchiah degenerated into a monstrous amalgamation of corpses with enormous arms, a large head but no legs, forced to take the flesh of his victims and add them to his own. Members of his clan suffered from a similar fate, forced to defile graves in order to procure flesh to replace their own. When Raziel arose from the abyss as a wraith he made Melchiah the first target for his revenge. When the two meet, Raziel obviously did not recognize Melchiah at first. Melchiah tells him much has changed since he was thrown into the abyss and that he feels repulse from himself. Raziel demands to know Kain's whereabouts, but Melchiah refuses and instead decides to end Raziel once and for all. The two fight each other, during which Melchiah demonstrates his ability to phase through metal bars. Raziel traps Melchiah in the middle of his meat-grinder, demanding to know where Kain is. Melchiah merely tells him that Kain only appears where and when it pleases him. Raziel activates the grinder, crushing Melchiah, who thanks Raziel for “releasing” him. As Melchiah's soul exists the remains of his chrushed body Raziel devours it, thus gaining the ability to phase through metal bars while in the spirit realm. Powers and Abilities *'Sarafan Martial Training': As a human being opperating under the Sarafan, Melchiah was an exceptional warrior with a good grasp of the martial arts. He specialized in fighting at mid-range with the use of a spear, although he would have also had utilized a sword on some occasions. As a commander he likely would have also been trained to be a tactical leader. *'Vampire Physiology': After having been turned into a vampire Melchiah was gifted with enhanced speed, reflexes and strength, although nowhere near as powerful as his brothers since he was born last and thus inherited the poorest piece of Kain's soul. In time he had developed a high-resistence towards the vampire weaknesses, such as sun-light, impalement and fire, although they could still pose a threat against him. Like any other higher vampire Melchiah could spread the curse of vampirism onto other human beings. **'Melchahim Abilities': Inspite of his weaker abilities Melchiah did, however, gain the ability to pass through metal bars by means of teleporting temporarily into the spirit realm where the laws of physics accted slightly weaker than in the physical realm. His body was more closely tied to the spirit realm and as a result Melchiah's body would deteriorate at an alarmingly fast pace. In order to compensate for this weakness Melchiah would periodically stitch the flesh of his victims onto his own body. Overtime, Melchiah had degenerated into a bloated torso with no legs, two massive arms and large bone-like spikes growing from his back and shoulders. But he also gained greater physical resistance in the front of his body, while his backside was weaker to injury. Trivia *Melchiah's name is biblical in nature and translates as "Yahu/Yahweh my king", "the Lord my king", "the Lord my counselor" and was the name of several Jewish priests in the Old Testament. *In early development of Soul Reaver, Melchiah was given the placeholder names of "Skinner" and "Skinner Boss" in regards to his habit of skinning humans alive and for his unique patchwork appearance. *Both in life and unlife Melchiah was bald, as shown in his mural inside the Sarafan Stronghold. *Melchiah's vanity was never explored during Soul Reaver, instead series artist Daniel Cabuco revealed this in an article on the website DCabDesign: **"Melchiah is not depressed or downtrodden, while he originally felt that he had a poor gift: his body falling apart, he realized that he gained another. The ability to add other parts to his own, to reformulate his body as he sees fit, even being able to pass through gates and grates. With this revelation, he began a deranged journey of experimentation to prove he and his clan could become the most powerful and numerous of all." - Daniel Cabuco *As an in-joke towards the developers, Melchiah's need to attach "the most stunning specimens" on his own body includes the portraits of Crystal Dynamics employees being attached to his evolved body. Navigation Category:Vampires Category:Legacy of Kain Villains Category:Video Game Villains Category:Game Bosses Category:Deceased Category:Mutated Category:Fanatics Category:Hybrids Category:Dark Fantasy Villains